Limits on Prior Authorization Urged for Private Medicare Plans

Health-care providers, medical groups, and consumer advocates are calling on the Biden administration to take strong action to improve the quality of care and the performance of private Medicare managed care plans.

In response to a request for information on how to strengthen the Medicare Advantage program, hundreds of interested parties used a 30-day comment period to recommend ways that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could tweak the Medicare Advantage program to better serve beneficiaries.

The effort is not without urgency. Nearly 46%, or 29.6 million, of Medicare’s 64.5 million beneficiaries are enrolled in the managed cared plans. ...